La Grande Code: Chaste comme Guillaume - Chaste like Guy - Why Knights should be icons of Purity
And so much more
The next major virtue is that of Chastity, a virtue I’ve discussed at length in another essay, one that was one of the most popular when I was first starting out here a year ago. The essay can be found here and discusses how to write Chaste characters and its importance with regards to female leads.
While this is an important point to make, and I really must get back to writing Archetypes (I promise, I’ve plans for such soon), but for now needless to say one must discuss first the Grand Code and the virtue in not only women but men as well.
It is a virtue that in recent times as said in the other essay has fallen by the wayside as being rather ‘unpopular’ and as no longer in ‘vogue’ but the truth is that it is an important one. The importance of fidelity towards one’s partner is paramount, and it is something that grows ever more in importance with each passing year.
The reason for this is simple; being faithful in a relationship is hard work, it really is. It’s not the sort of thing that comes easy especially in a culture focused on instant gratification. So that for this reason many people find little joy in remaining chaste and faithful.
And in this regard do not think I’m only pointing the proverbial finger at women, because men are likewise to blame as they have a tendency to likewise be unfaithful towards their wives.
It is easy, and chastity is hard. It should likewise be the same for a great many characters of fiction, as fiction really must imitate life. It is for this reason that when writing adult stories one must remember the struggle with fidelity, and characters aspiring to be chaste and faithful.
Characters like Guy are remarkable in his case he sought to primarily remain spiritually chaste in the old legends by refusing to marry the formerly Muslim lady who had fallen in love with him. In the context of those old legends, she fell in love with him, sought a baptism to be with him and was to be crowned Queen, with Guy being a tributary monarch loyal to Charlemagne (or Aemiliemagne in my stories).
The fact of the matter though is that Guy’s spiritual purity combined with his romantic purity make him the perfect hero to aspire after for new knights and makes him an infinitely more likeable alternative to Lancelot. He is also someone whom redeems his love-interest and fights the good fight for the lord and King/Emperor who raised him up so high in the Imperial Court.
Historical knights we all know have rarely if ever been given over to actual marital purity and have had a tendency of sleeping around as much as the next man. This doesn’t mean though that the virtue should be wholly cast aside, as it is there for a reason. It is a spiritual virtue as much as it is about mental discipline because if you can remain mentally and spiritual limber you can conquer any threat place against you.
It is thus of the utmost importance to not write every character as a debauched lunatic, as quite a few people out there in the real world are anything but. It is important to likewise remember how there is always a need for at least one self-disciplined, sober and calm character in the story.
A Qui-Gon Jinn is always required somewhere within the tale, or a Aragorn Elessar or even Legolas, with the former having a love-interest while the latter has none. The two remain very much chaste figures, one to his lover and the other to the ideals passed onto him by his beloved father King Thranduil, while also remaining devoted to his friends Gimli and Aragorn.
In the case of Guy, in my stories I follow the legends with him becoming King of Asturia and celebrating a lengthy and successful reign. His lineage also become the Kings of Amarante (they are descended from his second son), so that the lineage there and in the later Kingdom of Castillion are directly connected to one another.
In terms of chastity both spiritual and physical, none prove themselves a greater example of this virtue than the renowned Half-Burnt Knight Marculf de Lunard, or the likes of Aude for a female example who is an absolutely chaste individual who remains devoted to Henri, who is the love of her life.
In turn there is also David from my more recent tale 4 Paladins, or Authun from the Darkspire Conspiracy, as these two men fall in love with their childhood friends and proceed to remain faithful to them, and are to fight and combat for the right and honour to marry them.
This is akin to Samwise’s own devotion to Rosie Gamgee, and also that of the likes of Crysania’s devotion to Raistlin Majere from Dragonlance.
Or there’s the finest example in video-game history who in a series of video-games shows himself to be none other than Link.
Yes that Link is the finest example of Chastity (other than Sora from Kingdom Hearts), with Link being usually devoted to the Princess Zelda, who is the divine feminine in the story of the Legend of Zelda. It is this inspiration example of chivalric devotion that we must bear in mind when approaching our own wives, when we wed and when women choose a man, as the sort of devotion he shows ought to be an inspiration to us all.
Link is also exemplary for the fact that he fights against impossible odds for the lady love that he so desires in so many different incarnations and games. It also happens that Zelda who is offered much temptation in a series of games, notably by the figures of Ganon and Vaati always remains faithful.
And the reason we should look at them as tempters is for their own strange desire for her, and for the fact that they always approach matters from a materialist perspective, and from a position of greater societal influence than that of the farmboy/fairy-boy/peasant Link.
In effect Link’s own adventure is that of the youth like ‘Tit Jean’ attempting to woo the princess and thereby achieve a higher state of being. It is also reliant on him proving himself a good and chaste husband worthy of his intended bride.
Yet what is the point of chastity if it is never tested, if it is left as it is. Chastity without a challenge is meaningless, it must be tested like all things. In the case of Chastity it is proven the most true after it overcomes’ the world’s temptations and comes out on top.
It is only by weathering the storm, by resisting the greatest of the world’s evils that Frodo is able to reach the top of Mt-Doom with his trustworthy friend, it is only by proving himself spiritually pure and overcoming his grief at all the betrayals and sins of the Warden that Andy Dufresne is at last prepared to endure the journey from Shawshank to Mexico.
This is no coincidence as the hero must endure what no other can, this is after all what separates a common, and ordinary fellow from one of the great Heroes of song and myth and literature.
Because if he doesn’t remain in some way pure, in some way unvarnished by the sins of the earth, what was the point? How can there be a triumph if he doesn’t crawl through five miles of dung and come out the other side purer than he was? Yes certainly some heroes should succumb, but on the other hand some such as say Andy, or say Son Goku from Dragonball, or say Edmond Dantes?
Certainly some of them may do terrible things, Goku & Edmond must kill to either defend themselves or avenge himself as in the case of the latter. However, by the end of their tales they are purer than starting out in some ways.
Why is this the case? Because they’ve come out the other side more devoted to what is right and with greater knowledge of good and evil in a way, and what acts are proof of corruption and which ones are not.
This is important for a hero to do, and to accomplish as part of the Great Boon is knowledge and the spiritual knowledge that the hero returns from their journey with is as important as the actual deeds they accomplish along the way. Not for nothing is Penelope held up as a female icon, and even Odysseus who was unchaste with few if any men ascribing this part of the journey much praise, preferring to praise his many heroics, his great deeds and accomplishments throughout his journey and even in Troy.
A chaster version of him in some ways is Aeneas, who remains fairly faithful to the three dominant women in his life; namely his beloved first wife, then the likes of Queen Dido, and then Lavinia who dominates his later day life.
So while Odysseus is an example of an unchaste hero in flesh, he suffers for his affairs, just as Aeneas does for his chastity.
In turn though Aeneas enjoys a long life after his arrival in Italia, so that we really must wonder if the affairs were worth it? Notably that with Calypso that Odysseus regretted so much. Odysseus for his part lives out his life in regret of his affairs, whereas Aeneas’ has a pretty clean conscience, so that his fate seems obviously preferable.
I've never been sure about Crysania. I think she was more devoted to Paladin and thought she could change Raistlin. She might have fallen in love with him, but it wasn't returned, as he left her for dead on his way to better things.
I always thought of the two of them as a tragic tale.
Very good article.
I think a large problem in today’s society is that we’ve downplayed the importance of keeping one’s promises in general, whether it comes to vows of marriage which include faithfulness, or even a promise one makes to a friend. Our word is no longer our creed, so to speak. Because of that, marriages falter and break. Being unchaste or unfaithful is only part of the bigger issue, though certainly a major part.
In many ways we grow more and more like Brave New World where lustful gratification takes precedence over the hard work it takes to make a meaningful relationship last. While the rewards for that instant gratification are satisfying, they are short-lived and shallow, sending us once again on the hunt for more.